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Security report for msd.ro

Merck Sharp & Dohme Romania SRL · Healthcare · Romania

Medium risk. 4 critical or high findings in GDPR outside view, Email security and 1 other check.

Security score

68/100

Risk levelMedium

0–100, higher is better. How it is calculated

Merck Sharp & Dohme Romania SRL operates as a subsidiary of the global pharmaceutical giant Merck & Co., Inc., focusing on research, development, and distribution of healthcare products including vaccines, oncology, and infectious disease treatments. The website serves as a corporate portal providing information about the company's mission, research areas, sustainability efforts, and career opportunities. It targets healthcare professionals, researchers, and the general public interested in MSD's activities in Romania. The business model is centered on pharmaceutical innovation and healthcare solutions with a strong emphasis on scientific research and social responsibility. Technically, the website is built on WordPress with modern SEO and accessibility plugins such as Yoast SEO and OneTrust for cookie consent. It employs Google Tag Manager for analytics and tracking, and uses lazy loading and responsive design techniques to optimize performance and mobile usability. The site is well-structured with comprehensive metadata, Open Graph tags, and JSON-LD structured data enhancing search engine visibility and social media integration. From a security perspective, the site enforces HTTPS and includes cookie consent mechanisms, external link warnings, and accessibility badges. However, explicit security headers are not evident in the HTML content, and no dedicated security or incident response policies are published. The WHOIS data is privacy protected as per ROTLD policies, which is typical for corporate domains. No suspicious indicators or vulnerabilities were detected in the content or scripts. Overall, the website presents a professional, trustworthy, and compliant digital presence for MSD Romania. Strategic recommendations include enhancing security headers, publishing a security policy and incident response contacts, and implementing a vulnerability disclosure program to further strengthen trust and compliance.

Scanned

NIS2 and GDPR posture

GDPR outside view
68/ 100 · Medium
Checks completed
7of 7

NIS2 Art. 21(2)

  1. (a) Risk analysis and security policies: Not visible from outside
  2. (b) Incident handling: One indicator
  3. (c) Business continuity, backups and crisis management: Not visible from outside
  4. (d) Supply chain security: Not visible from outside
  5. (e) Secure acquisition, development and maintenance, including vulnerability handling: Partly checked
  6. (f) Assessing the effectiveness of security measures: Not visible from outside
  7. (g) Cyber hygiene and security training: Not visible from outside
  8. (h) Cryptography and encryption: Partly checked
  9. (i) HR security, access control and asset management: One indicator
  10. (j) Multi-factor authentication and secured communications: Not visible from outside

This scan rated NIS2 with an earlier keyword method that is no longer shown; rescan for the per-article view. Risk management, continuity, supply chain, training, MFA, management oversight (Art. 20) and incident reporting (Art. 23) need internal evidence, and Guard cannot tell whether NIS2 applies to this organisation.

GDPR is indicative only, based on publicly visible signals: Articles 7, 12, 13 and 32 of Regulation (EU) 2016/679 and Article 5(3) of the ePrivacy Directive. Not a certification or legal assessment.

Priority findings

4 findings rated critical or high. Fix these first.

  1. GDPR outside view

    These are the privacy signals visitors and data protection authorities look for under GDPR.

    • High

      No Cookie Consent Banner found

      GDPR requires explicit consent for non-essential cookies

      What to do: Implement a cookie consent banner that appears on first visit

  2. Email security

    SPF, DKIM and DMARC stop others sending email that looks like it comes from your domain, a common route to phishing and invoice fraud.

    • High

      No SPF record found

      SPF helps prevent email spoofing

      What to do: Add SPF record: "v=spf1 include:_spf.yourmailprovider.com ~all"

  3. SSL/TLS

    TLS encrypts the connection and proves the site is really yours. Weak or expiring certificates trigger browser warnings and put traffic at risk.

    • High

      Weak Protocols Supported

      Server supports weak protocols: TLSv1.1

      What to do: Disable TLS 1.0, TLS 1.1, and all SSL versions

      • CWE-327
      • OWASP A04:2025
      • ASVS V12.1.1
    • High

      Weak SSL Key Length

      SSL certificate uses 256-bit key, which is considered weak

      What to do: Use at least 2048-bit RSA or 256-bit ECC key

      • CWE-326
      • OWASP A04:2025
      • Mozilla TLS: Mozilla Server Side TLS 6.0 intermediate: rsa_key_size 2048

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  • TLS certificates and expiry
  • DNS records
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  • Security headers
  • GDPR and NIS2 posture
  • Exposed services
  • Third-party trackers
  • Security score drift

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Results by check

Each check with its score, findings and the evidence it collected.

How this score is calculated

The security score runs 0–100, higher is better. It is the plain average of the security checks that completed in this scan, each counted equally. A check that could not run is left out: it counts neither as a pass nor as a fail.

Counted in this score

SSL/TLS
42
Security headers
80
Email security
50
DNS health
70
Network security
100
GDPR outside view
68
Average
68

Not counted

  • NIS2 outside view: Re-weights evidence from the TLS, email, DNS, network and hygiene checks, so counting it would count that evidence twice. Shown on its own.
  • OffSeq Observations: An AI reading of the site, useful context but not reproducible evidence. Shown on its own.

Findings that cap the score at 49

Each of these is serious on its own, so while any is present the site cannot rate better than high risk, however good the other checks are.

  • The certificate is not trusted by browsers
  • The website is not served over HTTPS
  • A database, remote desktop, file-sharing or Telnet service is reachable from the internet
  • The page loads a script from a compromised source
  • The domain registration has expired
  • SPF authorises every server to send mail as the domain

Partial scans

When the site blocks Guard or most checks cannot run, the score covers only the checks that ran (usually DNS and email), is capped at 75 and is shown as partial, without a risk level.

Risk levels

  • Critical0–25
  • High26–49
  • Medium50–75
  • Low76–100

Technical appendix

Business context, site observations and technical notes gathered during the scan, and the standards behind each reference.

Business context

Business profile

MSD Romania is positioned as a key player in the pharmaceutical sector within Romania, leveraging the global brand and resources of Merck & Co., Inc. The company benefits from a strong reputation, extensive research capabilities, and a broad portfolio including oncology, vaccines, and infectious diseases. The website reflects a mature digital presence with clear branding and comprehensive content targeting healthcare professionals and the public. The partnership ecosystem includes multiple MSD regional and global domains, indicating integrated operations. Growth indicators include recent certifications and active CSR initiatives. The business model focuses on innovation, research, and social responsibility, aligning with global pharmaceutical industry standards.

Security posture

The website demonstrates a moderate to strong security posture with HTTPS enforced and cookie consent implemented. The presence of external link warnings and accessibility badges indicates attention to user safety and compliance. However, the absence of explicit security headers such as Content-Security-Policy, X-Frame-Options, and a published security policy or incident response contact reduces the overall security maturity. No vulnerabilities or exposed sensitive data were detected in the HTML content. The WHOIS privacy protection is justified and typical for corporate domains. The site would benefit from publishing a vulnerability disclosure program and data protection officer contact information to enhance compliance and incident readiness.

Recommendations

  1. Implement and enforce security headers including Content-Security-Policy, X-Frame-Options, and Strict-Transport-Security.
  2. Publish a dedicated security policy page outlining security practices and incident response procedures.
  3. Establish and publicize a vulnerability disclosure program or security.txt file to encourage responsible reporting.
  4. Provide clear contact information for the Data Protection Officer to improve GDPR compliance transparency.
  5. Regularly audit and update third-party scripts and plugins to mitigate potential vulnerabilities.
Site observations

Automated reading of the public site. Ratings are indicative.

Business

Company
Merck Sharp & Dohme Romania SRL
Description
At MSD, we're following the science to tackle some of the world's greatest health threats. Get a glimpse of how we work to improve lives.
Key services
Pharmaceutical research, Vaccine development, Oncology treatments, Cardiovascular and metabolic disease treatments, Infectious disease treatments
Content quality
excellent
Branding
consistent

Technology

Stack
WordPress, Yoast SEO plugin, Tiny Slider, Google Tag Manager, OneTrust Cookie Consent
Performance
moderate
Mobile
good
Accessibility
good
SEO
good

Security

Observed score
85/100
Good practices seen
  • HTTPS enforced
  • Cookie consent mechanism
  • External link warning modal

Analytics and tracking

Services
Google Analytics (via Google Tag Manager)
Tracking level
moderate
Privacy practices
good

Advertising

Marketing tools
OneTrust Cookie Consent
Transparency
good

Site quality

Design
excellent
User experience
excellent
Content relevance
excellent
Navigation
excellent
Professionalism
excellent
Trustworthiness
high

Key observations

  1. Website is fully accessible with no blocking or WAF challenges.
  2. Content is professionally presented and relevant to pharmaceutical industry.
  3. Strong privacy and cookie policies with consent mechanisms implemented.
  4. No exposed sensitive data or security vulnerabilities detected in HTML content.
  5. WHOIS data is privacy protected as per ROTLD policy, no registrant info disclosed.
  6. Multiple external links to official MSD and Merck domains indicating corporate network.
  7. Use of modern web technologies and SEO best practices.
  8. Social media presence on Twitter, LinkedIn, and YouTube confirmed.
  9. No contact emails or phone numbers explicitly listed on homepage; contact form available.
  10. Accessibility features and badges present indicating compliance efforts.
Technical notes

Notes

The website is built on a WordPress CMS platform enhanced with Yoast SEO for search optimization and OneTrust for cookie consent management. It uses modern JavaScript libraries such as Tiny Slider for interactive content and Google Tag Manager for analytics and tracking. The site employs lazy loading for images and responsive design techniques to ensure good performance and mobile usability. The HTML and CSS are valid and well-structured, supporting accessibility and SEO best practices. Hosting details are not explicitly disclosed. Performance is moderate with room for optimization. The technical stack is modern and appropriate for a corporate pharmaceutical website, though security header implementation could be improved.
Standards and sources

Reference chips under each finding point to the standard, regulation or specification the finding relates to. They are taken from the official datasets below and mapped conservatively: a finding with no defensible link shows none. NIS2 and GDPR references mark where a finding is relevant evidence, not a compliance verdict. Implementing Regulation (EU) 2024/2690 binds digital infrastructure and digital service providers; for other entities it is the most detailed public reading of the Article 21 measures. WCAG, EN 301 549, European Accessibility Act and Web Accessibility Directive references name the requirement an automated accessibility rule relates to; they are not a conformance verdict.

Retrieved 2026-10-25

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